The time-honored skid avoidance technique of "pumping" the brake pedal to control a skid situation has largely been displaced by anti-lock braking systems. Many known anti-lock devices operate by cyclically increasing and decreasing the braking force exerted on the wheels so that a slipping wheel having a tendency to lock is permitted to re-accelerate back to a speed corresponding to the speed of the vehicle. This is typically achieved by control valves alternately allowing fluid to flow out of and then into the brake cylinder to first lower and then raise the brake pressure in the brake system.
Typically, anti-lock or anti-skid braking systems utilize a so-called pump-back scheme or a replenish scheme during a reapply or build operational sequence to maintain a desired level of hydraulic fluid in a brake system. In a pump-back scheme, the same hydraulic fluid is resupplied from a local accumulator to the brake pad actuators while in a replenish scheme hydraulic fluid comes from a separate source such as either a hydraulic accumulator or a separate pump and motor.
Most of such anti-lock braking systems are further capable of operating in a traction control function A traction control function is established by detecting conditions where the rotational speed of a first powered wheel substantially exceeds that of a second powered wheel. To provide a power balance in the operation of a vehicle, a braking force is applied to the powered wheel rotating at a higher speed to effectively transfer driving torque back to that wheel with better traction. Many anti-lock systems having such a traction control feature employ a motor and hydraulic pump or pumps which operate independent of the service braking system. Such a braking system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,438 where the traction control motor and hydraulic pump are called into action to provide a back-up power assisted braking feature in the event of a malfunction of the primary braking system.
It is desirable to provide a braking control system with a secondary or back-up braking source having a capability of modulating pressure to the service brakes in the event of loss of the primary brake power source.
It is also desirable to provide such a back-up braking system which is capable of rapidly responding to an actuation signal in the event of a malfunction of the primary brake system.